I am sitting down to write this report on a very sunny Good Friday, while my wife is wondering why the hell I'm doing it on my day off. Well, this is the only time that I can get a little peace and quite away from the constantly ringing telephones at Brunswick House! During a normal weekday at the office, many drivers have told me that it is easier to get through to the Pope than Tom Whitbread! How wonderful that I am levelled with such good company!
   On a normal weekday I receive approximately 30 to 50 telephone calls from drivers, clients, suppliers and general public enquiries. Some of these callers will tell you that it may be 7.30pm by the time I return their calls, but I do try to return all calls on the day that they have been made. If I don't get to return your call the same day, then please bear with me, I do try...
   I have even had calls on my mobile throughout the evening while at home and on one occasion I actually received a call at quarter to one in the morning from a driver. He wanted me to help him out because he could not get certain functions to work on his new terminal! I can't remember how pleasant I was to him while thinking that I had to be up in five hours or so...

Lower Subscription Rate
Since the Board decided to reduce the subscriptions for drivers displaying the Society logo on their taxis, we have had a few members who have removed them hoping they would not be noticed. They may get away with it for a short period of time, but usually another subscriber will spot them and notify a Board member. We will check out if this information is correct and then put the driver on the higher rate of subscriptions. It may be that the driver will not realise until he receives his next payment sheet. If you are claiming the lower rate of subscriptions and are minus one or both of your logos, then replace them now. There are ample supplies at Roman Way or if you are a night person, contact us and we will arrange to get some to you.
   Hopefully, the weather will soon improve and that large yellow ball in the sky - namely the sun - will appear again. If this happens, please remember that you are the ambassadors of Dial-a-Cab when you get dressed to go to work. There is nothing more sickening than to be at a client's offices and see a subscriber enter their premises dressed in shorts, flip-flops and a gaudy T-shirt!
   If our drivers project a good image when they are working, it goes a long way when we are trying to open new accounts. For those who don't know, you can order an attractive range of good quality logo'd polo shirts, summer trousers and the like at very reasonable prices. See Ernie in Driver's Reception and he'll show you the catalogue.

Software Update
Included in the latest release from DaC's Software Department is one regarding 

'non-rejectable' trips. Previously, non-rejectable trips had to be accepted whether offered in the primary zone or in the back up zones.   
   The new software allows subscribers to reject a 'non-rejectable' trip if offered to them in a back-up zone. These trips still cannot be rejected in a primary zone. The situation regarding 'Executive' trips (which carry the £5 additional charge) is unchanged. These trips cannot be rejected in whichever zone they are offered.

Complaints Procedure
I have been asked on many occasions about the procedures we follow when receiving a complaint. So here goes...
   Firstly, I ask for a written account of the complaint and this can then be shown to the driver concerned. After receiving a complaint, I request the drivers' terminal logger which will let me ascertain whether I actually have the correct driver. Any other documents or evidence are then collected and it may be then that I decide there is no complaint to answer. At this point the driver will not know that a complaint has been made against him or her.
   If there is evidence that the driver has broken any rules of the Society, I will then send out a complaints form, which informs the driver of the wrongdoing. On the form it will indicate the date, time and place, plus a brief description of the alleged offence that has been lodged with me.
   The driver then has 7 days in which to supply us with a written explanation. If he or she decides to try and ignore the request, then we will continue using any evidence supplied. In this instance, it would be forwarded to a complaints meeting.
   On receipt of a written reply, I will match both sides and decide whether any further action is warranted or, if it is a minor offence, can I issue a warning, reprimand or severe reprimand?
   If a penalty is warranted, then any previous misdemeanours will be taken into account. But if the complaint is more serious or I cannot decide who is in the right, it would then be forwarded to a complaints meeting.
   A complaints meeting consists of a Board member, who acts as Chairman of the meeting, and 3 fully paid up subscribers. We now have some 40 members who have agreed to sit as a complaints committee and any 3 of these will be drawn out of a hat. The subscriber on complaint will be invited to check any documented evidence prior to the meeting, if they decide to decline the invitation, then that is up to them.
   On the day of the meeting, the Committee Chairman will ask if they have any valid reason to reject any of the committee, if not it will go ahead. The complaint will be read out together with any written reply. The subscriber can then add any verbal extras to his written answer.
   The committee, made up of working taxi drivers, will then be allowed to ask questions of any person in attendance. When all present have exhausted the questioning, the driver on  complaint and the Complaints Officer will be asked to leave the room.

The committee will then debate and sieve through the evidence until they come to a conclusion. If they decide there is no complaint to answer, then that is the end of the matter. But if they decide the driver is guilty of the complaint, they will then be informed of any previous proven complaints that the driver has against him or her.
   On hearing the information, they will then decide any penalty. The Chairman of the meeting has no voting rights in any of these decisions and is only there to see fair play and that rules are adhered to.
   The committee can suspend a driver up to a maximum of 4 weeks on a first offence and expel on any subsequent offence. A driver can appeal against a suspension, but nothing lower; the Board of Management would then hear any appeal. The Board have the right to lower, approve or increase any sentence. They can increase a sentence if they think that the driver has only appealed to waste more time or if they believe that the offence was more serious than the original committee realised. If the driver is suspended, this starts immediately and they still have to pay their subscriptions whilst suspended. Drivers have asked us if they can have the suspension levied on certain weeks of the year, that being when they are on holiday! We of course, refused!
   After the meeting, any driver who accepts their punishment will have the result published in Call Sign Magazine; if they appeal, it will be published after the appeals meeting should a guilty verdict still be the case. Any driver who is expelled by both the committee and the Board, has the right to appeal to the Society arbiters and their decision is final. Any driver who is expelled, must have the result displayed in the Society notice board for 1 calendar month.

March Complaints Meeting
After the March complaints meeting, a subscriber complained about the way in which Call Sign had published the results following his appeal. The Editor was correct in the publication; he gave the original verdict of the drivers committee after they had sifted through the evidence, heard the driver's past record and decided to expel him. It was only on appeal that the Board decided to drop some of the charges that they considered were not applicable and reduced the sentence accordingly.
   I hope that you now have more of an insight into the procedure when we receive a complaint. I also hope that I never have to meet you in my capacity as Complaints Officer...

As a last word, when you have put your cab through an overhaul, please remember to supply us with your new plate number and the date of its expiry. This enables us to prove that you are still allowed to be a subscriber on the best radio circuit in London, the Owner Drivers Radio Taxi Service.

Tom Whitbread